** 2026 Stock ** With You in My Arms resurfaces a record that, for decades, might as well have not existed. Cut as a private‑press album in mid‑1970s Los Angeles and vanishing almost immediately into the cracks of time, John Michael Roch’s sole LP was so thoroughly off the radar that it didn’t even appear in The Acid Archives, the landmark guide to North American psychedelic obscurities. Long after most collectors assumed every last US psych treasure had been unearthed, this one was still hiding in plain sight - a complete unknown, passed hand to hand (if at all), waiting for someone to stumble across it and recognise what was there.
The reissue changes that in one stroke. If names like Michael Angelo (Guinn) or Justen O’Brien & Jake mean something to you, With You in My Arms will feel like finding a missing cousin. Roch works in a similar territory of intimate, home‑built “pop‑rock‑psych”: songs shaped by the West Coast’s melodic ease but shaded with a solitary, slightly off‑world sensibility. The arrangements are modest but imaginative – chiming guitars, warm basslines, homespun keys, gently phased textures – all in service of tunes that lodge themselves in the ear without ever flattening into pastiche. You can hear the Los Angeles light in the harmonies, but there’s also a private, late‑night quality that marks this clearly as a personal document rather than an industry calling card.
Part of the album’s charm lies in that tension between ambition and circumstance. As a self‑released project, With You in My Arms operates outside the usual studio polish; small imperfections, idiosyncratic production choices and the slightly narrow, homemade soundstage all add to the sense of being directly inside Roch’s headspace. Rather than treating those traits as flaws, the reissue embraces them, presenting the record as the artefact it is: a snapshot of one songwriter’s vision, undiluted by label demands or commercial second‑guessing. The restoration work aims not to “modernise” but to clarify, letting the vocal phrasing, guitar work and subtle psych touches come through with new vividness.
This edition is also a corrective to the historical record. Dedicated to the memory of Patrick “The Lama” Lundborg – whose books The Acid Archives and Psychedelia redefined how we listen to and think about this era – the reissue implicitly acknowledges that even the most exhaustive maps have blind spots. Here is one of them, filled in at last. Extensive liner notes and archival photos from Roch himself flesh out the context: how the album came to be, what the Los Angeles underground felt like at the time, why the record disappeared and how it resurfaced. For long‑time psych diggers, that story is part of the reward; for new listeners, it’s a way into understanding why a seemingly small private press from decades ago can still land with such force.
Ultimately, With You in My Arms isn’t just a “mega rare” item finally made available. It’s a genuinely strong, emotionally resonant record that stands up next to the cult favourites it’s now being mentioned alongside. The reissue gives it what it never had: a chance to circulate, to be lived with, to become part of people’s personal soundtracks. In doing so, it proves there are still treasures to be found – not only in dusty boxes, but in the renewed act of listening.
